1B Rewrite - Media Language

Media language is the ability to communicate media texts through language analysis. It is the way in which the meaning of a media text is conveyed to the audience, so they can encode and decode the text, through the use of signs and symbols as well deconstruct text through camera, editing, sound and mise en scene. I was instructed to make a music video to a song of my choice, of which I chose ‘Youth’ by Daughter. I created a narrative around the theme and tone of the song, and it includes a girl wearing a mask who is travelling to London to find emotional freedom, however, she then travels on to Brighton beach, whist having flashbacks of her past relationship. Symbols such as the mask was a very clear way of giving the audience a way to decode the media language and understand why the character feels so lost and confused without having to be so literal about it.

Saussre was the founder of semiotics, he developed the concept of sign, signifier and signified as well as stating that everything has meaning. In my music video the sign was the setting I chose to film parts of the video in, the signifier was the beach and the juxtaposition between the beach and London as theses were the places I filmed, and the signified was the meaning behind the beach location. The seaside was a key setting due to its lonely, isolated, yet freeing and calming atmosphere. The vast land and sea portrays a tranquil and open feeling coupled with the contrasting tones of loneliness. This setting juxtaposes the busy London streets, the binary oppositions of stillness and chaos sub textually symbolise the apparent isolation from the main character. The ways in which the mise en scene so violently contrasts suggest a sense of loss and confusion. The audience’s relation to such signifiers could be that they recognise how the protagonist is feeling through the visual imagery, to deduce the emotion as the wonders alone amongst people yet is free on her own. The audience could take from this the importance of portraying emotion through location in a subtle way.

Laura Mulvey is also a key theorist; she explains how camera work and the idea of the ‘Male Gaze’ can objectify females, creating gender inequality. The main prop in my video is a mask that covers the protagonist’s face and her face is never revealed. This could symbolise a sense of hiding who she is, all her femininity and personality is hidden by an emotionless mask. The audience may relate or understand the characters need to cover up as it is a very directly visual way of conveying that she is purposely hiding her features. However, from Mulvey’s point of view it could be argued that the mask does still draw attention to the over sexualised features of her face due to the male gaze and societies need to sexualise certain features such as the eyes and lips as these are still visible even with the mask on. In the video there are many close ups of the subjects face with the mask on, therefore, this could be seen as a way of purposely attracting attention to these certain features of her face. There are also low angle shots that pan up from the subjects feet to her face, Mulvey would state that this is potentially a provocative shot to sexualise the character, although, many people could counter Mulvey and argue that the close ups and low angle pans do not need to be over analysed that much to be seen as sexual. Seeing as the mask has connotations of concealing or hiding and putting on a fake front to distract others from what’s underneath, the audience could recognise this and see the mask as a symbol for covering who you are so you can face people in public and try to get over a bad memory.

Overall, media language and the theorists that are within the theory is a key way of analysing text using signs, symbols and camera work. There are many symbolic images in my video such as the mask and the location which can be analysed and denotated by the audience through theorists such as Mulvey and Saussre. The finished product has symbolic imagery that the audience can relate to and use it as a subtle way of understanding both the character’s emotions and feelings, and the narrative.